By Doc Kennedy

Well, that was a pleasant surprise.

UNC built a 17-point, third-quarter lead and then turned away their brethren from Lesser Carolina multiple times in the 4th quarter to leave Charlotte with a season-opening 31–17 win.

You can forgive UNC fans for feeling foreboding about these kinds of season openers, especially against SEC opponents. A loss to the Gamecocks in Charlotte in 2015 was the only blemish on Carolina’s regular season record. The Mack Brown 2.0 era opened with a win over SCAR in Charlotte, but that feat was not duplicated last time the two teams played. And we won’t even talk about LSU in 2010.

That said, the Tar Heels came out confident and ready for prime time, stopping the Gamecocks on a 3-and-out on the first possession and then methodically driving down the field for a 7-0 lead.

With the exception of a couple of glitches, I think you could argue this is the best and most prepared a UNC team has looked in their season opener during Mack 2.0. Tackling form, was, for the most part, much improved, and Carolina played as crisp of a first game as could be asked for. You always wonder how new coordinators and new position coaches will impact a team, and well, it’s almost like position coaches matter.

With that said, here is this week’s GBU Report, SCAR edition:

Good

Defensive front

This disappointing and much-maligned position group didn’t even look like the same bunch that routinely got blown up last season, hanging their secondary out to dry again and again. The Heels had nine sacks — after only posting 17 in 14 games last year, and another 7 tackles for losses. The defensive front bottled up the run game, allowing minus-2 yards on the ground and sent veteran South Carolina QB Spencer Rattler, a great college QB in his own right, scrambling much of the night. It’s almost like position coaching matters. If UNC has solid defensive line play, watch out.

British Brooks

The veteran RB, who missed all last season with injury, returned to the field with 103 yards on the ground to go with 3 pass receptions. What a great story.

Drake Maye (first 40 minutes)

While UNC built a 31–14 lead midway through the 3Q, Maye worked through just another day at the office. To that point, he was 22 of 27 for 262 yards and 2 TDs to go with 25 rushing yards.

Mack Brown

Say what you want about his return to Chapel Hill, but his influence can’t be denied. This was win 100 at UNC between his two stints with an ACC title game and an Orange Bowl since he came back in 2019. He is the only FBS coach to win 100 games at two different schools and he is the 2nd-winningest coach in FBS, behind only Nick Saban. Congrats, Coach!

Bad

UNC secondary

This young unit was done no favors with the news that with the news that DeAndre Boykins is out for the season with injury. But despite the immense pressure up front on Rattler, the Carolina defensive backs gave up eight pass plays of 20 or more yards. UNC can’t waste great defensive front efforts against very good QBs.

Drake Maye (final 20 minutes)

With Carolina nursing a two-score lead, Maye led the limping offense home by going 2 of 5 with two INTs after UNC went up 31–14. One of the INTs was a bad decision and the other was bad luck, but it sure was weird watching the defense bail out Drake and the offense rather than vice versa.

Ugly

The Tez Walker situation

There has been plenty of TV air, ink, and tweets about this, so no need to recap it other than to say: there is letter of the law, and spirit of the law. By the spirit of the law, he is a one-time transfer, which completely discounts the humanitarian argument. But the NCAA has a history of coming down on the wrong side of simple choices, so here is hoping against hope the right thing is done this week for Tez.

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To quote the great Nuke LaLoosh in Bull Durham, “I love winning. You know, it’s like better than losing?” UNC opens the season with a quality win and lots of hope and optimism, with two home games the Heels need to win vs. App and offensively challenged Minnesota, before it gets real in conference with a game at Pitt. Gotta like it one game in, though.

Doc Kennedy is an alum and longtime UNC fan, and a former high school and college basketball coach who wrote this report for years on Tar Heel Blog.

Photo via @UNCFootball